The U.S. has been behind the diagnostic testing eight ball since the COVID-19 crisis first began. Thus, unlike Australia, South Korea and other countries that pursued a strategy of widespread testing at the onset which ultimately enabled them to contain the spread of the virus, the U.S. was slow in recognizing the threat. As a result, it was extremely difficult for people showing symptoms to even get tested, and complete testing data was not available. As it was in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, diagnostic testing will be crucial to reopening the U.S. economy going forward. The good news is that the country has made up for lost time since the early stages, with nearly 100 different COVID-19 tests reaching the market, a figure that literally grows every day. The bad news is that the U.S. is still playing from behind as far as COVID-19 testing is concerned. And it appears that the testing pipeline is still facing serious obstacles and testing is unlikely to continue lagging through at least the end of the year. The Need for COVID Testing Data One of the problems with evaluating the current state of COVID-19 testing in the U.S. is the…
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